The Goodbye Girl
by Jacob Marley
Summary: Harry and Hermione are suddenly reunited after two years of separation. This is a story about grief and healing, about heartbreak and forgiveness.


A/N: … I'M BACK. I'm sorry for the ridiculously long hiatus. Truly. But I hope you enjoy this next one … it's another H/H, but I'm working on an R/H at the moment as well. We'll see. And just so you don't get confused—pretend the epilogue of _Hallows_ never happened.

It was raining.

Hermione hated rain.

_It had been raining when she was holding his hand, sitting next to him in a stiff chair, in a white room. He had looked at her. "Be careful when you go home," he had said weakly._

"_I'm not going anywhere yet."_

"_I know. But when you do. Tonight, and tomorrow, and the day after that. Be careful." _

Someone knocked on the door and snapped her out of her reverie, out of the white room and into her office.

Hermione looked up.

"Harry. Hi. What are you doing here? Not that I'm not glad to see you, it's just—how did you find me?"

He looked like he was in shock. Like he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

Helpless.

"Are you all right?"

He nodded, then shook his head, and then nodded again.

Hermione stood up and walked to him. "Do you want to sit down?" She touched his shoulder tentatively. His cloak was drenched. "Where on earth did you come from?" She guided him slowly to a seat and gently pushed him into it. She sat next to him, instead of going back behind her desk. He still said nothing. "Harry, what _happened_?"

"I went for a walk," he finally said. Quietly.

"All right," she said slowly. "Just—just because?"

He shook his head.

"Harry, I can't do anything to help you if you won't tell me what's wrong," Hermione said, frustrated.

"Ginny - " He swallowed and started again. "Ginny is—she's gone."

"Gone," Hermione repeated. "What do you mean, gone?"

"She left. Everything is—everything she owns, her clothes, her kitchen utensils, her toothbrush—everything." He reached into his pocket slowly. "She left this on the front door." He pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione carefully unfolded the paper and began to read:

_Harry_,

_I'm sorry. That's all I can say. I can't explain all of this right now, because I don't even understand it myself. But all I know is that I can't be your wife anymore. I can't do it. I can't go through the motions anymore._

_There are so many things that I wanted to do, that I left behind when I married you. My life has been entirely centred on you. And that's not your fault; that was my choice.__But there's always been this nagging feeling, repeating "What if?" over and over in the back of my head. And for a while, I fought it. And I was happy. But I can't do that anymore. _

_And we both know this has to do with Ron, too. I keep seeing him, lying on the hospital bed, every time I look at you. It hurts too much. And I know that's not your fault. And I can't help but wonder—is there anything he wanted to do, that he never got a chance to do? Does he regret anything? I can't live the rest of my life wondering what if. And I'm scared that if I don't leave now, then I never will. I don't want to wind up in a hospital bed, barely able to talk, wondering what could have been._

_I love you, Harry Potter. I always have. I always will. But I need to do this. I need to prove to myself that I can do this. _

Hermione looked up. Harry reached into his pocket again and handed Hermione a smooth, cold object. Ginny's wedding ring.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione whispered.

"I didn't have a clue," he said quietly. He turned his head to look out the window. "How could I have been so blind?"

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand tightly as they walked through the house. She almost gasped: Harry hadn't been exaggerating. She had taken everything that was hers, down to the last family photograph.

"It looks terrible, doesn't it?" said Harry glumly. "It feels like I just moved in and still haven't unpacked everything." He paused. "But worse, because I've been living here for four years, with her, and this really is all I have. It looks so empty." His voice cracked. He let go of Hermione's hand and covered his face. His shoulders shuddered and he collapsed to the ground.

Hermione put her arms around him. "You're all right," she said softly. "You're all right."

"I just can't believe she's gone," Harry cried. "Just like that. No warning. I said goodbye, told her I'd be back around two, after my meeting with Seamus. She kissed me on the cheek. Told me she loved me. And now she's gone."

She stroked his hair. She didn't know what to say. What _could_ she say?

"She knew all along that she was going to leave," he continued, gasping. "She knew, when she kissed me, she knew she was going to be leaving today. She knew—she knew."

Hermione closed her eyes. She didn't want him to see that she was crying, too. She kissed the top of his head. "Oh, Harry," she whispered.

"What am I going to do?" he sobbed. "What the hell am I going to do? She was—she was everything. I've lost _everything_."

_He had said her name. "I'm here, Ron," she whispered. She put her hand on top of his. "I'm here."_

"_Promise you'll stay with me?"_

"_I promise."_

His cries were subsiding slowly. She rocked him gently, like a baby, holding his wet head to her chest. "I can't—I can't stay here," he said. "I can't be here now."

"You can stay with me tonight. All right? We'll grab you some clothes and get you out of here. Okay?"

He nodded into her chest. She stood slowly, grasped his elbows and pulled him to his feet. She wrapped his arm around her waist. She pulled her wand out of her pocket. "_Accio clothes!_" she cried. They zoomed through the bedroom to Hermione, folded neatly in a pile.

"Are you ready?" she asked quietly.

He nodded.

A/N (part two): I'm sorry it's so short, but I just wanted to get SOMETHING up. I know it's confusing, but it will all make sense … eventually. Hopefully.


End file.
